Wire gripping tool



lune 17, 1941. L O'RQSSA I 2,245,811

WIRE GRI-PPING TOOL Filed Oct. 11, 1940 ma ic 5% Zarezace 0&364

Patented June 17, 1941 WIRE GRIPPING TOOL Lorence ORussa, Princeville,111., assignor to Mathias Klein & SonS,Chicago, 111., a corporation ofIllinois Application October 11, 1940, Serial No. 360,708

6 Claims. (Cl. 24132) My invention relates generally to wire grippingtools, and more particularly to improvements in wire grips whereby thelatter will be maintained in engagement with a wire .even

though the gripping jaws arein separated position.

In the use of wire grips by linemen, difli'culty is frequentlyexperienced in that the grip becomes disengaged from the wire as soon aspulling tension on the grip is released and the jaws thereof permittedto separate. Furthermore, difficulty is frequently experienced in safelyattaching wire grips to hot wires, that is, wires at high voltage withrespect to ground or adjacent wires. To overcome these difficulties, Ihave provided an improved wire grip. which is automatically latched tothe wire so that it will not be unintentionally released and falltherefrom, and which may be attached to an elevated wire by means of aninsulating pole with ease and without danger to thelineman.

It is thus an object of my invention to provide an improved wire griphaving means for automatically latching the grip into potential grippingposition on a wire.

A further object is to provide an improved wire grip which may be easilysecured to an elevated wire by means of an insulating pole.

A further object is to provide an improved latching wire grip which willautomatically latch itself in engagement with a wire.

A further object is to provide an improved latching wire grip of simpleand durable construction, which may be easily operated, and which may beeconomically manufactured.

Other objects will appear from the following 7 description, referencebeing bad to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the wire grip showing it in theposition it assumes when supported by an insulating pole;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the parts in the positions assumed uponlatching the wire grip to a wire;

Fig. 3 is an elevation showing how the grip may be attached to a wirewithout the use of a hooked pole tool;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view. taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;and,

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

The wire grip comprises generally an upper jaw l0 which may be formedintegrally with a main frame portion l2 or may be secured thereto. Anarm l4 is pivoted to the jaw ID by the use of a shouldered rivet or thelike, and carries a lower jaw l8 which is pivoted thereto by ashouldered rivet 28. The lower jaw I8 is maintained in substantialparallelism with the upper jaw ill'by virtue of a stud 22 which projectsthrough an arcuate'slot 24 formed in the main frame portion 52. Thelower end of the arm l4 has a pair of links 26 pivotally connectedthereto, the opposite ends of the links being pivotally connected to aclevis 28 by a pin 30 which is freely slid'able in an elongated slot 32formed in the main frame portion I2. From the foregoing, it will beapparent that as a pulling force is applied to the clevis tending topull the latter to the left (Figs. 1, 2, and 3), the links 26 and 14will act as a toggle to force the jaw l8 upwardly with respect to jaw l0and thereby clampingly engage a wire inserted between the jaws. Thestructure thus far described is a well known form of wire grip.

As previously stated, such grips frequently become disengaged from thewire as the jaws are released from clamping engagement therewith, andfall with occasional injury to the lineman. Furthermore, such grips aredifficult to attach to hot wires, since it is necessary for the linemanto hold the grip in engagement with the wire while preparations arebeing made for exerting a pull on the clevis to draw the jaws intoclamping engagement with the wire. To obviate these defects of the priorwire grips, I have provided a latch 34 which is pivoted upon theshouldered rivet l6 and is held in place by a washer 35 and a stud 36threaded in the end of the shouldered rivet B6. The extent of thepivotal movement of the latch 34 with respect to the jaw 10 is limitedby a stud 38 threaded in the jaw Hi and projecting through an arcuateslot 45 formed in the latch 34. A torsion spring 42 is coiled about thestud 33 between the latch 34 and the upper jaw 10, and has one endhooked about a headed stud 44 on the latch 34, while the other endthereof engages a shoulder 45 forming part of the upper jaw lil. As bestshown in Fig. 4, the lower edge of the latch 34 is beveled.

By'virtue of the weight of the latch 34 and the force exerted by thespring 42, the latch will normally assume the position in which it isshown in Fig. 2, Where it obstructs the opening between the jaws l0 andI8.

In attaching the grip to an overhead line which is at high potential,the lineman will insert a hook 48 in a hole 56 formed in the latch 34.The hook 48 is secured at the end of an insulating pole 60. By means ofthis pole, the grip may be placed in position on the wire to be grippedwithout danger of shock to the lineman. Upon disengaging the hook fromthe latch 34, the latter will be swung downwardly from the position inwhich it is shown in Fig. 1 to the position in which it is shown in Fig.2 by the force of gravity and the force of the spring 42. The hole 50 isso located in the latch 34 that when the grip is supported upon a hook,such as 48, extending through the hole 50, the center of gravity of thewhole grip will lie substantially beneath the center of the hole 50,with the result that the grip will hang in a position such that it maybe coneniently attached to an overhead wire. After the grip has beenthus initially attached to a wire, such as the wire 52 shown in Fig. 2,the jaws may be brought into gripping engagement by a pull on a rope(not shown) attached to the clevis 28, the pull being directed towardthe left in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

Vi hen it is desired to remove the grip from the wire, the pole 60 maybe used to disengage the grip from the wire by inserting its hook 48 inthe hole 59 of the latch 34, whereby the latch will be swung clockwiseon its pivot to the position shown in Fig. 1, making it possible easilyto remove the grip from the wire.

It will be noted that in order to have the latch operate in this manner,it is necessary that the spring 42 shall be insufiiciently strong toovercome the weight of the grip as a whole so that whenever the grip issupported by the latch 34, the latter will always swing to the positionin which it is shown in Fig. 1.

The fact that the lower edge of the latch is beveled is of advantagewhen it is desired to attach the grip to a wire or table without the useof a hook or other tool engaging the latch 34. Under such circumstances,the lineman need merely slide the grip to the right as he pushes thejaws toward the wire, as indicated in Fig. 3. Such movement to theright, while pressing the grip toward the wire, causes the wire toengage the beveled sloping lower edge of the latch 34 and swing thelatter clockwise away from obstructing position. Thus, the latch 34 doesnot in any way interfere with the manual attachment of the grip to awire.

While I have shown and described a particular form of my invention, itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous variationsand modifications may be made without departing from the essentialprinciples of the invention. I therefore desire, by the followingclaims, to include within the scope of my invention all such variationsand modifications by which substantially the results of my invention maybe obtained through the use of substantially the same or equivalentmeans.

I claim:

1. In a wire grip, the combination of a pair of relatively movable jaws,means for supporting and actuating said jaws, said means being connectedto corresponding sides only of said jaws to provide an opening at theopposite sides of said jaws for the insertion of a wire of unlimitedlength between said jaws, a latch pivotally secured to one of said jaws,and resilient means operating between said latch and the jaw to which itis secured to move said latch to a position partly obstructing saidopening.

2. In a wire grip, the combination of a pair of relatively movable jawshaving a free space along the side thereof for the insertion of a wireof unlimited length between the jaws, a latch movably mounted on one ofsaid jaws, and re silient means operative between said latch and the jawto which it is pivoted to move said latch into position obstructing saidfree space and preventing the grip from accidental disengagement from awire positioned between said jaws.

3. In a wire grip, the combination of a pair of relatively movable jaws,having a side opening therebetween for the insertion of a wire ofunlimited length, and a pivoted latch on one of said jaws, said latchhaving an opening for receiving a grip supporting member, said openingbeing substantially directly above the center of gravity of the gripsothat when said grip is supported by a member engaged in said latchopening, said jaws will be in a generally horizontal position for readyengagement with a generally horizontal wire.

4. In a wire grip, the combination of a pair of relatively movable jawshaving generally parallel gripping surfaces engageable with a wire to begripped, means for moving said jaws into gripping engagement with awire, a latch pivoted to one of said jaws, a means cooperating with saidjaw for limiting the pivotal movement of said jaw, said jaw having anedge portion extending diagonally across the projection of the spacebetween the gripping surfaces of said jaws when in one extreme positionand being removed from said space when in its opposite extreme position,and resilient means for moving said latch to position obstructing theinsertion of a wire between said jaws.

5. In a wire grip, the combination of a pair of relatively movable jaws,having a side opening therebetween for the insertion of a wire ofunlimited length, a pivoted latch on one of said jaws, said latch havingan opening for receiving a grip supporting member, said opening beingsubstantially directly above the center of gravity of the grip so thatwhen said grip is supported by a member engaged in said latch opening,said jaws will be in a generally horizontal position for readyengagement with a generally horizontal wire, and a spring operatingbetween said latch and the jaw to which it is pivoted to move said latchto latching position, said spring being of insuificient strength to holdsaid latch in latching position against the weight of the grip when thelatter is supported by said latch.

6. In a wire grip, the combination of a pair of relatively movable jawshaving a free space along the side thereof for the insertion of a wireof unlimited length between the jaws, a latch movably mounted on one ofsaid jaws, and resilient means operative between said latch and saidlast named jaw to move said latch into position obstructing said freespace and preventing the grip from accidental disengagement from a wirepositioned between said jaws, said resilient means being of insufiicientstrength to overcome the weight of the grip when the latter is supportedby said latch.

LORENCE ORUSSA.

